Thomas Emmett Quinn (September 10, 1877 – February 9, 1930) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

executive, coach and referee. Quinn served as president of the

National Hockey Association The National Hockey Association (NHA), officially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Lea ...

(NHA), the predecessor of today's

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). His brother Percy Quinn was also an ice hockey executive. At the time of his death, Quinn was a Fire Commissioner in Montreal.

Ice hockey career

Quinn first became notable in the field of ice hockey as a coach of the

Montreal Shamrocks The Montreal Shamrocks were an amateur, later professional, and then amateur again men's ice hockey club in existence from 1886 to 1924, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They were spun off from the Montreal Shamrocks lacrosse club. Starting off ...

in the 1906–07 season. He was replaced after the season and worked as a referee for the 1907–08 season. He was the referee of the game, in

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry and is Ontario's easternmost city ...

in February, 1907 in which Owen McCourt died as a result of his on-ice injuries. He returned to coaching, for the Quebec Bulldogs of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECHA) in 1908–09. He also served as the ECHA's secretary-treasurer. In 1909, he was part of the dissolution of the ECHA. He became the Canadian Hockey Association's secretary-treasurer. When that league dissolved, he joined the

(NHA) as secretary-treasurer. In 1910, he was appointed president of the NHA. He held the position until October 18, 1916 when he resigned. During his tenure, the league moved into

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, relocating franchises in northern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

that had been members of the

Temiscaming Professional Hockey League The Timiskaming Professional Hockey League (TPHL) was a minor professional ice hockey league based in the area of Lake Timiskaming, Canada. Founded in 1906, the league is notable for providing teams and Ambrose O'Brien, a founder of the National ...

. Under his tenure, the league imposed a salary cap on its players. The

Pacific Coast Hockey Association The Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) was a professional ice hockey league in western Canada and the western United States, which operated from 1911 to 1924 when it then merged with the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). The PCHA was cons ...

(PCHA) was founded in 1911, and it became the NHA's major competitor, albeit in western cities, while the NHA operated in eastern cities. Quinn negotiated agreements between the leagues for the first regular Stanley Cup playoffs, holding finals between the two leagues for the Cup, ending the time period of Stanley Cup "challenges" under the control of the Cup's trustees. He also negotiated agreements to respect each league's player contracts and a controlled draft for the transfer of players between the leagues. Quinn resigned from his position as president of the NHA after the 1915–16 season. He was rewarded with a silver tea service from the NHA in October 2016. He ended his involvement with hockey entirely.

Personal

Quinn had three brothers Fred, Percy and Raphael. Quinn married May Kiely. They had three children: Richard Francis Quinn, Robert Emmett Quinn and Millicent Quinn. Quinn was in the insurance business, as was his brother Percy. Quinn was nominated to the Fire Commissioner's Court in 1924 for his experience in fire hazards. He died in 1930 at 52 years of age.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Emmett 1877 births 1930 deaths Canadian ice hockey coaches Ice hockey people from Montreal Ice hockey executives Canadian sports executives and administrators